Fracture zones (lineaments in the sea floor topography offshore Africa) in the oceanic crust show right-lateral movement between Africa and South America. Fracture zones also tend to offset sub-basins and affect sedimentation. Gulf of Guinea

Department of Defense (DoD) . . . (deploys) . . . nearly 255,000 military personnel at 725 bases in 38 countries. Since then, the total number of overseas bases has increased to at least 766 and, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service, may actually be as high as 850. Still, even these numbers don’t begin to capture the global sprawl of the organization that unabashedly refers to itself as “one of the world’s largest ‘landlords.'”

The pentagon also has problems keeping accurate records of money spent. This has been particularly a problem under Bush/Cheney, and seems to be a part of their kleptocratic management style.

. . . it cannot even account for at least $1 trillion dollars in money spent — or perhaps . . . as much as $2.3 trillion.

and –

By its own admission, it is also a slumlord par excellence — with an inventory of “180,000 inadequate family housing units.”

But the piece that should really worry people in African countries, particularly those bordering the Gulf of Guinea:

U.S. military is exploring long-term options to dominate the planet as never before. Previously, the DoD has only maintained a moving presence on the high seas. This may change. The Pentagon is now considering — and planning for — future “sea-basing.” No longer just a ship, a fleet, or “prepositioned material” stationed on the world’s oceans, sea-bases will be “a hybrid system-of-systems consisting of concepts of operations, ships, forces, offensive and defensive weapons, aircraft, communications and logistics.” The notion of such bases is increasingly popular within the military due to the fact that they “will help to assure access to areas where U.S. military forces may be denied access to support [land] facilities.” After all, as a report by the Defense Science Board pointed out, “[S]eabases are sovereign [and] not subject to alliance vagaries.” Imagine a future where the people of countries at odds with U.S. policies suddenly find America’s “massive seaborne platforms” floating just outside their territorial waters.

The Heritage Foundation, which is responsible for the Bush administration thinking and planning behind the African Command, has spelled out Bush/Cheney intentions towards Africa. The basics of the plan are to extract the natural resources, particularly oil, and use the land of the African continent as a gigantic sugar cane plantation to grow bio-fuel to feed the US petrol appetite. The US Africa Command looks more and more a threat to African sovereignty, safety, and economy.